Chile: “Reflections From Some Comrades…”
About the recent arrests following the street clashes. As is known, in recent months there have been a series of arrests of juveniles accused of participating in riots and clashes with the repressive forces during actions carried out by encapuchados (hooded ones) outside universities. Some of them now remain in various regimes of imprisonment, from house arrest to remand.
Some comrades have already reflected on the role of selective state repression and the lengths that the authorities will go to in their attempts at removing the various forms of conflict against the established order.
We encapuchados use insurgent violence against the forces of oppression as part of a multifaceted struggle for total liberation. We believe that it is up to us to ensure that our methods of fighting do not end up dying with us therefore we feel it is important to disseminate some of our analyses and reflections.
1. The repressive situation.
It is evident when analyzing the repressive situation, that the authorities have been expanding the range of repressive sectors beyond the known internal enemies (urepentant former Marxist guerrillas, insurrectionist anarchists and Mapuche militants) to plant the fear of punishment for radical mobilizations among students and others who undertake various struggles within society.
This is already foreseen and announced in the context of “demonstrations and social unrest” during which the authorities try to impose the view that the only way to transform the system is via adjustments to established institutions using peaceful democratic methods.
To achieve this end, as well as deploying their communication and journalistic army, the authorities fine tune their legal mechanisms, tightening the Firearms Control Act in parallel with the Patriot Act, to punish dissenters and to instill fear to inhibit acts of rebellion and revolutionary violence.
2. Not everything is secure: against victimization and the idea that everything is staged
A very serious error that is made when the authorities unleash their repression is to let it flow without any resistance or an offensive on our part, as well as thinking that the enemy has us all under surveillance making it impossible to carry out conspiracies, attacks and acts of violence against them.
A recurring notion to combat is the idea of the assemblies which for many is usually the first defensive speech (almost as a wildcard) at the time of facing the repression. This idea is usually accompanied by the idea of the innocent victim and the ‘right to protest.’
Contrary to the above, the insurrectionist anarchist position and years of experience in this and other areas suggests that it is possible to maintain revolutionary coherence whilst simultaneously rejecting the charges and accusations imposed by the authorities, without assuming or validating the logic of guilty and innocent that are created by the judicial and legal mechanisms of the state.
Also, it is important to combat the idea of assemblies in relation to the stupid belief that every attack action always comes from the police. Of course the authorities often plant evidence against those they want to harm, but it is ridiculous to discard the idea that individuals are free, conscious and autonomously able to organize, plan and carry out attacks against authority and it’s normality.
Our position is not that of young students or ‘social activists’ who struggle with their hands clean and demonstrate peacefully. We position ourselves as the declared enemies of all forms of authority who are willing to organize ourselves to make molotov cocktails, erect barricades and attack the police with our faces covered so that we are not detected by the eyes of repression.
3. Non-stop action
This is a moment where it is necessary to strengthen ourselves as individuals and as anarchist action groups.
This is a propitious time to deepen our critique of the social order as a whole, promoting in practice the rejection of the rules and standards of repentance and victimhood that society promotes.
It is of utmost importance to defend the street fighting in the spaces of combat that were won with decades of insurrectionist practice and to also combine it with other practices of revolt in new spaces – something that was understood and implemented by the comrades who erected barricades in several places in the city just a few days ago.
By remaining vigilant we can minimise risks and recklessness during combat. Always keep in mind that when it comes to the proliferation and continuity of autonomous action we must activate our creative potential to insure the attack is diffuse and informal so that the enemy is not able to predict our every move.
Let’s not give way to the fear, silence and immobility imposed by the authorities to halt the insurrectionist advance!
Let’s sharpen our discourse and our action!
Solidarity with the prisoners of the street clashes and all the comrades abducted by the authorities!